Dems Get Gavel

I'd give anything to know how it turns out for the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. I was able to watch most of the ceremony and I must admit being a little spellbound watching her. She did an admirable job being gracious and looking the part though she did seem to absorb the adulation a little more in line with someone who had just won a beauty pageant. Hopefully this was just a nervous way of dealing with a once in a lifetime event and not some insatiable thirst for this kind of thing. Give her some slack, right, after all I'm watching the anointment of the first woman Speaker in the history of the country. Maybe, but as a citizen I'm in need of knowing if it's all about the country or all about Nancy Pelosi. Fair or not, she is being asked to "right the ship," after a period of Government shenanigans that rivals the Warren G. Harding administration, so the stakes are unusually high. For now I'm all eyes and ears.
The grand kids surrounding her was a stroke of genius for unexpected reasons. They busied up the images so her high energy squirming, twitching and lip biting wasn't so noticeable.
When it came to the speech I'm glad she mentioned the troops in Iraq as soon as she did even though none of the first 100 hours will be spent on them.
Actually as she spoke, the administration was at work teeing up some thousands of more soldiers for Iraq in one last effort to salvage whatever is left of President Bush's ego. They also continue to eye the War Powers Act and now even postal laws to magically increase they're authority. Do you think a spirit of partnership can work to curtail these plans?
Congressman Henry Waxman heading the House Government Reform Committee is exciting. I wonder if he had anything to do with Vice President Cheney looking grumpier than usual or President Bush's more than normal, "the lights are on but no body's home," appearance with Chancellor Merkel today.
As usual, time will tell but, I'm sure glad we are at least trying something new.
See, ethics is something that good people posses. It's that nature-nurture concoction that make some people unable to live with themselves unless they follow the straight and narrow. In groups these people understand the value of a commitment to something greater than oneself. Once it takes hold it has the potential to be truly great and the servants and the served reap enormous reward.
The Minority Leader elect John Boehner said something telling when introducing Speaker Pelosi. Referring to ethics on the part of the Republicans he said, "...when they lose sight of this they begin writing a ticket to minority status." This is the "big stick" approach to the straight and narrow and it doesn't work. It's not surprising it came from the side that lost. Bad guy's aren't team players and maintaining the majority is not enough to keep them honest.
Hopefully the new leadership will see the difference and start some meaningful reform because if you can't fix this then nothing else matters.